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I couldn't help but sigh. The other day I had OF 1 and 2 windows side by side and really felt a strong calling to OF 1's appearance. OF2's window looked so washed out and bland. The difference was like night and day for me. Just using the defaults.

The high-contrast monochrome icons are oddly reminiscent of the unreformed black and white version of the marshalling signals on p63 (Layering and Separation) of Edward Tufte's Envisioning Information, now over 20 years old, but still not always full absorbed.

The deep history of visual design is that technical improvements in the available range of contrast, color and resolution create scope for better cognitive flow (productivity, in fact) by enabling clearer layering and separation – better foregrounding of what matters, better visual grouping of subsets, and better muting of what is secondary, or just UI.

All too easy, if one loses track of that central point, to end up misinterpreting visual change as the ebb and flow of zeitgeist, and running around in sensitive pursuit of what one imagines to be decorative fashion – the latest 'look'.

PS If Omni could just embed a set of design principles which enabled a consistent transition, in all their products and pages, from version 1 of the Marshalling Signals to Edward Tufte's layered and separated version 2, then they might well begin to aim again at some prizes for design.

(The "Omni" style for these forum pages, see the Lithographica ⇄ Omni dropdown at bottom left, is a classic candidate for better cognitive design – visual layering and separation that actually matches the layering of the information and interactions – perhaps a good place to initiate an experiment :-)